Source Land Souls
This article is about the way Souls exist and function in the Source Lands Setting, and it does not relate at all to how souls may or may not work in the real world, and is purely work of fiction. If you are more comfortable with thinking of this as something else entirely than an actual soul, as understood by your own convictions, feel free to do so. Nature of Souls Souls come in varying degrees of importance and power, depending entirely on what the soul is intended to be housed in, however, souls do not naturally exist outside of a physical object, unless in a state of distress of some sort (for instance, if they have been forcibly removed or by other means forced to eject), which is not a simple thing. The Wheel of Time In the Source Lands Religion, it is understood that Mors the Seeker, God of the Dead, is the master of Souls and when the object a Soul is bound to ceases to exist, it returns to Mors' Wheel of Time, a construct that exist in another realm that literally fractures a soul into multiple lesser souls and returns them to the world of the living for reincarnation. Fractured Souls Once a Soul has existed in the realm of the living, housed in a physical object for some time, it will eventually grow to "completion". A being can fully exist with a fractured soul, and thus, it is not an issue that newly created creatures and objects are infused with mere fragments of the type of Soul the require. Souls in Living Creatures Living creatures do not strictly speaking need a soul to exist or function, but the likelihood of growing dysfunctional and depressed are very high with the absence of a Soul. Incubi A specific type of Corrupted Soul (the essence of a Demon). Nosgothica * See Source Land Vampirism for more information on Nosgothica. Grand Souls Grand Souls are exclusively found in Sapient creatures, and are the greatest souls to be known to be in general circulation. Higher Souls Higher Souls are found in creatures that are Sentient, but not fully Sapient. Some normally Sapient creatures are occasionally born with Higher Souls instead of Grand Souls, but it is rare, and mostly the case when the creature was created with disabilities that prevented proper brain-function. Lesser Souls Lesser Souls are commonly found in baser life-forms. There is a significant amount of difference between a Higher Soul and a Lesser Soul. Souls in Objects While not thought of or regarded as real souls per say, objects also house a form of Souls, or at least have the potential to do so. Petty Soul Petty Souls are tricky, as they are not actually Souls in the same way a Lesser Soul or higher is considered a Soul - Lesser Souls are almost exclusively found inside non-living objects, and manifest on their own, according to the studies, and a Petty Soul seemingly forms inside of objects that become subject to metaphysical importance (when ever the object impacts the existence of something else, and this is noticed) and object identification (when someone recognizes the object as being something specific), this creatures Soul Energy, which normally would strengthen the Soul inside of a creature, but in objects there is no Soul and no where for the energy to go, thus forming a Petty Soul. Petty Souls eventually grow strong, and gain properties very similar to Lesser Souls, allowing them some unusual properties. Soul Energy Soul Energy is a tricky matter, and generally comes in two forms. Soul Shards Soul Shards are little fragments of "soul matter" if one can describe it as such, that Souls require in order to grow. It is generated when metaphysical importance (affects something in a way that is noticed) is assigned to an object that houses a Soul of some shape or form, or when a such an object experiences object identification (is identified as something by something else). Soul Slivers These are very small traces of Soul Matter left as a sort of "finger print" on anything the Soul affects, even metaphysically. Soul Slivers can be virtually impossible to detect, but for instance in a Corpse, an extremely significant amount of Soul Slivers are left behind - actually so many that it can be possible to piece them together and create a very weak soul-fragment from them - unfortunately, this is rarely a very happy solution, as death tends to leave very negative emotions anchored in the slivers, meaning that the soul-fragment will often be a of a violent nature, pushing its host to destructive means.